UCLA, UNLV Offer Scholarship to 14-Year-Old Stephen Zimmerman

Stephen Zimmerman is a 14-year-old from Las Vegas who has yet to enter high school. That still hasn’t prevented two major programs from offering him a scholarship.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, UCLA and UNLV have already offered him an oral scholarship while Arizona, Duke, Kansas, and Indiana are also interested. Even Roy Williams and Josh Pastner were in the stands to watch Zimmerman play in a recent tournament.

Remember, this kid is only 14 years old.

So what’s so special about Zimmerman? He’s already 6’10” and still growing. He can play inside and outside, and he’s trying to emulate Dirk Nowitzki. “I try to play like Nowitzki because I’m a center and I can shoot the ball. He’s just a really great player,” Zimmerman told the paper. They say Zimmerman could be the top recruit in the class of 2015.

We mocked USC coach Lane Kiffin last year when he offered 13-year-old quarterback David Sills. We cautioned Auburn when they followed suit in February. Even though Zimmerman is just as young as Sills, the difference is with basketball you can generally tell if a youngster is going to be good whereas in football it’s extremely difficult to project growth and development of someone that young.

Zimmerman turns 15 in September and will enroll at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas. Hopefully his commitment to the Bruins will come sooner rather than later.